Katherine Kelly cuts to the chase

Coronation Street star Katherine Kelly is no stranger to being in the headlines. Last month, the 33-year-old, who plays Becky McDonald on the TV One soap, was on the cover of Hello! magazine after eloping to Las Vegas, and last week she made news by announcing she and new husband are to be parents. “Ryan [Clarke] & I are overjoyed to announce that we are expecting a baby! Feeling very blessed!” she tweeted.

But the newlywed mother-to-be had a chance to experience the other side of the story for her new role in the Vibe miniseries, Field of Blood: The Dead Hour, in which she plays Maloney, a ruthless editor in chief of the Glasgow Daily News.

Set in the 1980s, the show follows a group of journalists investigating a grisly murder in the Scottish city, but Katherine says that although she has a soft heart and is very different to her character, she loved the role.

“It’s been great for me to play an out-and-out baddie,” says Katherine, who has won many hearts as reformed jailbird Becky on Coro for six years.

“Maloney is absolutely ruthless, she will step over anybody. She has no morals, no principles – it’s all about getting the story. She’s a lot of fun to play, but she wouldn’t be much fun to work with I’d imagine.

“I’d be a terrible journalist. I wouldn’t want to pry, I just don’t have that nature. I couldn’t knock on people’s doors – if they answered and said, ‘I don’t want to speak to you,’ I’d say, ‘Oh, okay then – I wouldn’t [push for a story] to be honest.”

As Becky McDonald’s time on Coro draws to an end on our screens, in the UK Katherine has been off the show for more than a year. Since leaving the cobbles, she has also had roles in the National Theatre and on TV One show Mr Selfridge.

Working on the Field of Blood set was a highlight for Katherine, who loved being amongst the noise of typewriters in a pre-internet newsroom, that featured one solitary green-screened computer.